Great fairway recovery at Aldwickbury Park

Thursday 15 August 2019

The drought of summer 2018 saw some of the fairways at Hertfordshire's Aldwickbury park golf club fall victim to the prolonged dry spell, but a programme from Headland Amenity saw a recovery that Course Manager Craig Betts could only describe as 'phenomenal'.

'Last year's heatwave was tough! Despite our best efforts, we really struggled to maintain growth and coverage which saw us enter the new season far from where we wanted to be' explains Craig, who heads up a greens team of seven. 'We overseeded six of the worst-affected fairways in early May and asked our Headland Regional Manager Peter Blackaby for his advice on what we could use to boost germination and recovery.'

With a feeding programme of Xtend 46-0-0 and Elevate Fe already in place, Peter suggested incorporating Easygreen Mini quick release fertiliser. 'This was the kick-start the seed needed to establish despite the relatively late sowing. We also added 2.5L of Tricure AD into the tank-mix which has done a fantastic job of retaining any moisture we get. I keep a close eye on the weather forecast and if I see rain coming, I'll get a Tricure AD application down. This, in particular, has helped growth to thrive.'

The quick-working action of the Headland recovery programme meant that just three weeks after overseeding, the course was ready to host the 7th round of the Jamega Pro Golf Tour - the 9th year Aldwickbury has been a host venue. 'Being quite early in the season, it can be a battle getting the greens together and the course presented well, but this year even more so! However, players and tournament organisers alike, were astounded by the course condition and enjoyed another fantastic two days of play. The support we received from Headland in the run-up to this was superb and those few adjustments to our feeding programme have made such a huge difference.'